


A Cloud  of Starlings

by zhedang



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Tea, Trans Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:29:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7103416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhedang/pseuds/zhedang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi does not have a crush on the tea guy. He just appreciates good tea and friendly service, okay?</p><p>Yet another of my incredibly self-indulgent fics. Eren is the owner-operator of a small local tea room. Levi is new to the area and thirsty af.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gratitude

**Author's Note:**

> So a few months ago, I was innocently listening to some music at work ("Starlings" by Elbow) and got hit in the head by the Inspiration Bat. I originally intended to post this as a long-ish oneshot for Spring Ereri Week 2016, but then real life got too real and all fic writing had to get put on the back burner for a while. So! This will be somewhere around three to five chapters long and somewhere roughly in the neighborhood of 15K words.
> 
> I'm still working on Giving Up the Ghost, but this fic is a nice little break since it's much shorter and much fluffier. 
> 
> Side note: I'm not tagging Levi as a trans man in this fic, but it should probably be noted that pretty much all my AU Levi's are transgender now... the headcanon/self-projection is just too strong. It never actually comes up in this fic (at least not so far) but it's kinda... there... underlying everything... So yeah, feel free to ignore if you wish, but Levi is transgender, pass it on.
> 
> Another side note: I'm not tagging this either, but Eren is half Seminole/half white and Levi is half Vietnamese/half white. (This will actually be brought up in the fic, but honestly I'm not sure what tags to use for it, so... recommendations? I'm really bad at AO3 tagging.)

* * *

_Levi could kiss the tea guy._

The tea guy had a name and it was Eren, if the tag on his work apron was to be believed. His work apron also bore several pinback buttons. One was a blue Small Business Saturday button from last year. A gold one had the mysterious acronym AIBL. There was a little green one that said Equality Florida, though Levi wasn’t sure who or what the equality was for. The largest was a cheery shade of yellow that blared WE’RE GLAD YOU’RE HERE.

Levi was also glad he was here. Since moving, he had searched up and down for a decent local tea room, but Google searches had only turned up two Teavana locations-- _fuck Teavana_ \-- and a musty place that smelled of mothballs and was drowning in doilies. It was on the opposite side of town to boot, much farther than Levi was willing to go for a cup of their shitty, stale tea.

He had asked around the office if anyone knew any good tea places in town, but the bastards were all coffee drinkers. “Can’t you just make your own tea?” Erwin said unhelpfully. And of course Levi _could_ and he _did_ , but it wasn’t the same.

Levi had just about given up when he spotted Starlings Tea. He saw it spelled out in delicate bronze letters that were dark with age, the tiny storefront crammed between a Boar’s Head deli and a CiCi’s Pizza buffet. Levi had driven past the strip several times now and missed it. He only noticed it this day because he was on foot, finishing up his usual weekend run. The windows were freshly washed and decorated with carefully painted birds, who informed Levi that there was a new tea in stock called Worry Not Warrior and it was 100% local.

Levi had been just a bit worried that if he went home and came back later, Starlings Tea would vanish into the ether from which it had emerged. That was why he walked in as he was, dressed in his sneakers, running shorts, and sweat-drenched tank top.

The tea guy, Eren, didn't seem to mind at all that Levi was all sweaty and gross in his shop. He smiled at him politely when he finished taking the order from the customer ahead of Levi and asked, “What can I get you?”

Sweat dripped down Levi’s face and his shirt was plastered to his back-- Levi still wasn't used to Florida’s high humidity index, probably never would be-- and Eren had a white smile that gleamed against his light brown face. About two day’s worth of stubble clung to Eren’s strong jaw and his shaggy hair curled just a bit by his ears. He looked about as tall and broad as Erwin, but he lacked Erwin’s polished, sharp edges.  
  
Levi's skin felt grimy. He needed a shower desperately. His eyes darted away from the tea guy’s customer service smile and down to his arms. They were inked black with a twisting design that stretched from his wrists and up to where his shirt sleeves were rolled and cuffed at his elbows. Levi looked closer and saw that the tattoos were birds. Countless little birds silhouetted against Eren’s arms in swarms that soared around his muscles and bones.

“Like ‘em?” Eren asked.

Levi realized that he’d been staring and that he had completely forgotten what he’d planned to order. He hid the awkwardness of the moment behind a slow, deliberate blink. “Are those starlings?”

“Yep.”

“Like the shop? You like working here that much?”

Eren grinned and Levi thought it might be genuine this time, nothing customer service about it. “Well, it is _my_ shop.”

“You like starlings so much that you named your tea room after them and tattooed them all over yourself?”

“It was my mom's first, she named it.” Eren nodded towards a framed newspaper clipping about Starlings Tea winning some local award many years ago. The paper had yellowed, but the woman pictured in the feature still bore a striking similarity to Eren. They had the same dark hair, brown skin, and large eyes. “But yeah, I like starlings,” Eren continued. "They aren't very big, but when they get together in a group they can fill up the entire sky.”

Levi had seen flocks of starlings before. He supposed there was something awe-inspiring  about them all swooping together in unison, like one giant, powerful creature.

“Now,” Eren said, punctuating the word with a crack of his knuckles. “Did you come in here for conversation or tea? Though I’ve gotta tell you, you look like you use something iced and the only thing we sell with ice is water.”

Levi still couldn't remember what it was that he felt like drinking, so he asked the tea guy to surprise him. A little while later, Levi was walking home and drinking from a paper cup filled with the best jasmine tea he’d tasted in a long, long while. Somehow, miraculously, it tasted just like the tea his mother used to brew when he was upset and fuming. An oolong base. Just a hint of honey. Steeped just a little longer than usually recommended.

He sipped the tea slowly as his quick strides ate up the blocks, savoring it until finally he climbed the steps to his apartment. When his cup was empty, he was dearly tempted to turn around and ask Eren to surprise him again.

_Levi could kiss the tea guy._

He’d gone back to Starlings Tea the next weekend-- this time at the beginning of his run, rather than the end-- intent on getting some caffeine into his body. It was busier than before, with a line stretching to the door. But the line moved quickly-- almost magically because Levi could only count three employees.

There was Eren, of course, working the register and quickly ringing up each customer with practiced ease and a warm grin. A bronze-skinned women with a long braid of brown hair was plating sandwiches and serving the few tables packed into the place. Rounding out the trio was a white woman with a handsome hook nose who was brewing too many different types of tea for Levi to count. They all worked with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine-- especially Eren, who did not seem to ever need to glance down at the register as he typed away. Levi watched his fingers fly, the tattooed birds appearing to flap along with every twitch of his arms.

When Levi got to the front of the line, Eren greeted him automatically and then did a visible double take. “Hi! You’re back! What’ll you have today?”

Levi was rather surprised Eren remembered him-- it’d been a week-- but he must’ve stood out with his awkward staring. “Yes. Hello. Something caffeinated. Surprise me.”

“To go again?” Eren asked, already reaching for a paper cup.

“For here.”

The woman with the braid brought him his tea in heavy mug emblazoned with the same delicate lettering from the shop sign. “Irish breakfast,” she said. Her name badge said Sasha. “Just a smidge of sugar. No milk though. You want milk? Or more sugar?”

Levi declined. It was strong-- rather bracing, actually-- but it was perfect.

He sipped at it steadily, watching Eren work the line until finally it dwindled down to a trickle. When his mug was nearly empty, Eren escaped from behind the register to bus some of the tables near Levi. The words slipped from Levi’s mouth before he fully registered them forming in his mind.

“You have zero web presence.”

Eren blinked, turning to look at Levi as he stacked mugs onto a tray. “Excuse me?”

“I looked online for tea rooms in town and yours never came up.” Well, perhaps it had, but Levi hadn’t gone past the third page of Google results. Everything past the third page was most likely useless anyway. Most people didn’t even look at the second. “Even when I Googled your shop specifically, there was nothing.” Okay, there had been a listing of the business address and a few sparse mentions on Facebook and Instagram, but other than that, _nothing_.

“Oh. Well, I’ve never gotten around to getting a site up. Never had any time. We did have a Facebook a few years ago, but it got hacked so I deleted it. People keep telling me to get on Yelp, but they are so shady.” Eren shrugged, unconcerned.

Levi supposed  it wasn’t any cause for concern. The place seemed to be busy enough without the additional business a site could bring in. But it was the principle of the thing. It was 2016-- every moderately successful business should be online in some form, even if that form was just a simple social media page. Levi recognized that he was totally biased when it came to these matters since business sites were literally his bread and butter, but _still_.

“If you don’t have the time to make and manage it yourself, there are companies that will do it for you,” Levi told Eren. He thought for a moment that he should pull out a business card, but there was a reason why most of the clients for Erwin’s agency were lawyers and doctors. “Some of them are pretty expensive, but others aren’t so bad. It’s usually worth the money if your business is actually legit.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about those,” Eren said agreeably. “But it seems so… I don’t know, impersonal. It’s my business. I don’t want to trust my business’s image to someone one I don’t know. Especially if they’ve never even drank my tea.”

Levi could understand where he was coming from, but... “You could sell your tea leaves online. You could market to specific areas and expand your client base. You could build relationships with fans on social media, engage them--” Levi stopped because Eren was grinning widely, mouth twitching with the effort of holding in a laugh. “What?”

“Sorry, it’s just-- your accent sure comes out when you’re worked up. You sound kind of like those people in that movie Fargo. You’re really not from around here, huh?”

“...I moved down here for work about a month ago,” Levi admitted.

“Well then, welcome. I’ve lived ‘round these parts my entire life. You got any questions, just ask.”

Eren topped off his dish bin with the last two mugs from the table next to Levi’s. Before he could pick up the bin and leave, Levi said, “Actually, do you know any good places to run?” The routes he had been taking weren’t too shitty, but they weren’t ideal either. Too much traffic, not enough shade, too dull. Besides, when you ran five days out of the week, it was nice to change things up.

Eren’s hands stilled and he stood up straight to think. “Well, I’m not a runner myself. But when my sister still lived here, she used to go down this one trail. I think it's actually a dirt road? But a quiet one, not many cars or people out. It goes parallel to an orange grove, so she always said it was real pretty.” Eren pulled a pen from his apron pocket, took a napkin from Levi’s dispenser, and sketched out a little map, explaining how to get there as he did. He handed it to Levi with a smile when he finished, then got back to work.

That day, Levi planned to follow the same route he’d taken the previous weekend. But Eren’s tip piqued his interest enough for him to walk back home, get in his car, and follow Eren’s napkin map. It wasn’t too far out. He hadn’t realized how quickly the city became long stretches of agricultural land, but he supposed it made sense considering how massive the local citrus industry was. When Levi found the dirt road, he pulled over, scribbled a note on the back of Eren’s napkin to stick by his windshield in case someone got concerned, and got out.

He could smell the oranges. The dirt road was separated from the grove by a narrow strip of land and a low wooden fence. Levi could easily hop the fence and pick his share of fruit. They were probably Valencia oranges, since that was what the area was most famous for. According to Mike (who could always been trusted when it came to food trivia), they were mostly used for orange juice and were one of the few oranges that had a spring/summer harvest. The row of trees nearest Levi were heavy with the oranges, so apparently it wasn’t quite time to harvest.

Levi set off at a light jog, steadily working his way up to his usual pace. The dirt road reached out as far as Levi could see. When he turned his head, the grove alongside him did the same.

He went for ten miles, turning around halfway to doubleback. At various points, the fencing and style of planting changed as he passed one grove and entered another. But it remained just him, the road, and the oranges the whole way through.

When Levi’s car finally came back into sight, undisturbed, Levi’s sneakers were dusty, his shirt was soaked through with sweat, and exhilaration pounded through his veins. He climbed into his car, slumping down in his seat to rest, and pulled Eren’s napkin down from the windshield to examine the map again.

_Levi could kiss the tea guy._

He’d told Erwin that he would have the site done by Monday morning. By all rights, he should’ve been able to finish it by Friday afternoon. But the site was for business consulting tailored for oil and gas companies-- two of Levi’s least favorite industries combined into one terrible beast. The client had provided a fair amount of information, but most of it was either the doublespeak that made Levi detest consultant sites so intensely or niche technical jargon about oil drilling that Google shone little light on.

He’d spent most of Wednesday going over the information for the site and writing out a long list of questions for the client, who he called up himself, not trusting anyone else to get the detailed notes he needed. Thursday had been little more than slow, hesitant writing, typing out trite shit that Levi knew he wouldn’t be able to use because it was too far off from the target audience. By Friday he had a little better handle on the subject matter, but progress had still been too slow. The end result was that he took the work home with him over the weekend and spent all of Saturday mumbling curses to himself as he poked at his laptop keys, trying to revise what he’d  already written so that it was at least marginally acceptable.

By Sunday morning, he still had four interior pages to write and the home page. Levi would have preferred to claw out his eyes than stare at a computer screen a moment longer. But this was his job and there was no fucking way he was going to ask Erwin about an extension. It was entirely possible for him to finish it by Monday morning. He just had to keep a grip on his sanity until then.

After spending all of Saturday in his home office working, Levi was completely blocked there. He wasted the early morning hours of Sunday futilely trying to unblock himself before giving in and pulling on something comfortable to wear. A change in location would make things easier and it’d been a week since he’d last drank decent tea. So he packed up his laptop and notes and headed down to Starlings Tea, intent on working there for the remaining four hours that they’d be open.

Eren greeted him with the same perfect customer service smile, which only brightened when Levi told him he’d be dining in again and to please give him one of those chicken salad croissants along with his surprise tea. The tea turned out to be a bold assam with copious amounts of honey. Levi usually didn’t like the predominant flavor of his tea to be sweet, but as he let the taste of it settle on his tongue, he suddenly found his second wind. He booted up his laptop, opened the trouble document, and began typing.

The site came together. It was far from his best work, but it was perfectly readable, worked for the target audience, and all the information the client wanted on it was there. As Levi put the finishing touches on the home page, he leaned back in his seat and reached for his mug of tea.

The mug was strangely heavy. Levi looked away from the screen and down into the cup. He could’ve sworn he’d drank more than this. And the tea was still hot, which just couldn’t be right because Levi had been here for---

Hours.

Levi blinked, looking around himself. His croissant plate had been cleared away. More alarmingly, all of the other tables had been completely cleared. There wasn’t a single other customer in sight. The placard on the door had been turned so that SORRY, WE’RE CLOSED faced outwards. Even the two other employees were gone. It was just Levi and Eren, who was closing out the register.

“Um,” Levi said.

Eren glanced up at him and smiled. His teeth looked unfairly white against his bronze skin. Levi was becoming all too familiar with the sight. “Are you done? You were really writing away over there. Didn’t want to disturb you.”

“I-- yes, I just need to do a little more revision and it’ll be ready. Fucking finally, I’ve been working on it for days and--” Levi made himself stop before he wound up complaining for the next five minutes. “I didn’t mean to hold you up.”

“Nah, I’ve always got plenty to do after hours; it’s the burden of being your own boss. Besides,” he said with a little chuckle. “You reminded me of my sister. When she gets to studying, you could shatter a glass on the floor and she wouldn’t even look up from her books.”

“What does your sister study?”

“She’s studying to be a surgeon. Actually, she’s nearly done with her residency, so soon she really will be a surgeon.”

Levi picked up his mug again and drank from it. He might as well finish it since Eren had been kindly topping him off. “That’s impressive.”

“Yeah, I’m really proud of her. And glad she took the heat off me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Eren sighed. His breath dragged the word out in a long drawl. “Mom wanted both of us to go into medicine, like my dad. But school isn’t really for me. I knew someone would have to take over this place someday, so I just took some business classes to make Mom happy.”

Levi could relate somewhat, though his experience had been just the opposite. His mother had wanted him to take over her restaurant, but Levi had no interest in spending the rest of his life serving phở to the white folks of suburban Minnesota. He’d gone off to college instead and dove into the world of cubicle farms-- at least until Erwin called him up with a business plan and a proposition.

His mother understood. She ran the restaurant until she was almost at death’s door, only then selling the place to a stranger. Levi visited the restaurant after her funeral and barely recognized the place. He’d never regretted his decision-- he’d _hated_ working in the restaurant growing up-- but it made him sad to think of all his mother’s hard work ending just like that.

“Is this what you’ve always wanted to do then?” he asked Eren.

“Pretty much. It keeps me busy, I get to make people’s days a little better, and no one tells me what to do. What’s not to like? I would like to expand eventually though, maybe have a small chain in the area.”

The fingers of one hand drummed on the side of the register even as Eren’s other hand continued to work. Levi stared at the bones and muscles playing under his skin, then the sharp lines of Eren’s forearms and their dark clouds of starlings. “I’ve been looking at some spaces downtown, kind of keeping my eye on the market there. I’d want to see business here pick up just a little more before I get that ball rolling though. Not that we’re not doing well, we’re fine, but-- god, I’m rambling, sorry.” Eren cut himself off with a short laugh a shake of his head. “I’m sure you’ve still got plenty to do, so I’ll let you go.”

“I don’t mind,” Levi said automatically. Eren had let him write interrupted for hours; he was more than happy to let him ramble in return.

But Eren grinned wryly. “No, I think you’d better get back to work so you can finish up. Procrastination is no one’s friend.

That was true. Besides, Levi had long overstayed his welcome. He downed the rest  of his tea and began packing up his laptop and not. “I’ll head out then. Thank you. And-- sorry for hanging around so long.”

“Ain’t no sorry,” Eren assured him. “You’re welcome anytime.”

_Levi could kiss the tea guy._


	2. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi did not have a crush on the tea guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out I lied, I am going to actually talk about Levi being trans in this (just a little bit), so I'm tagging it.

* * *

 

_Levi did not have a crush on the tea guy._

He’d mentioned Eren once-- okay, maybe two or three times-- but it’d been enough to get Hange and Mike teasing him about his alleged infatuation.

“You never talk about people unless it’s to complain,” Hange proclaimed, Mike nodding behind them. “And you go there pretty much every weekend now. Admit it, you’ve fallen and you can’t get up.”

“His place has good good tea, that’s all,” Levi said. Hange just sighed and Mike rolled his eyes behind his mop of hair.

So when Levi came into the office one Monday with a paper to-go cup from Starlings Tea clenched in his hand, Hange descended upon him immediately.

“Just the weekends aren’t good enough for you anymore, lover boy?” they said, leering at him from around their computer screen and waggling their eyebrows.

Mike poked his head around his monitor too, taking in the cup and then Levi’s face before asking, “What’s the matter, Levi?”

“Nothing,” Levi answered immediately. He slurped down some tea to cover up his expression, then admitted, “I don’t know.”

He’d woken up that morning with a craving for lotus tea and the realization that Starlings Tea was also open on weekdays. Levi had become so used to his weekend tea and jogging schedule that it’d never occurred to him that he could drink there whenever he wanted. So he’d gone about his usual morning routine just a little bit faster than normal in order to leave enough time to swing by Starlings Tea before work.

It wasn’t that Levi expected to have a long, drawn-out conversation with Eren. He knew the place would probably be busy with all the before-work traffic-- and it was. But when Levi got to the head of the line, Eren was… strange.

He looked up, greeted Levi with his usual customer service smile, and then froze. There was no other word for it. His entire body stilled, his large brown hands settling to rest on the counter like weary birds. He was professional though, so the smile stayed in place. But it was stiff and seemed more artificial than ever before.

It only lasted a second. Then Eren laughed, shaking off the odd moment. “Levi! I almost didn’t recognize you. You got a meeting or something?”

“No?” Levi looked down at his Oxford shirt and slacks. He wasn’t that dressed up. Sure, he usually came into the tea room in sweaty tank tops and running shorts, but still. “Just work.”

“Oh yeah? What is it you do anyway?”

“I write for a marketing agency.” Levi dug for his wallet, removing a few bills for his tea first and then one of the business cards Erwin insisted he carry. _Levi Nguyen, Executive Copywriter, Scouts Marketing._ He handed the card over along with his cash. “I’ll take it to-go today.”

Eren examined the card as he punched in Levi’s order. “Whoa, exec-- huh. You know, I see this last name all the time, but I’m pretty sure I always say it wrong in my head,” he commented.

By now, Levi had an entire speech about this. Two speeches, actually-- one for assholes and one for people who asked politely. Eren got the second. “It’s pronounced differently depending on whether your family is from the north or south. But Americans don’t have the “ng” structure, so it’s best to just pronounce it as “win” instead of embarrassing yourself.”

“Noted. I will learn how to say it properly one of these days though. Is your family from the north or south then?”

“South—my mother’s side, anyway. My father was an American soldier. Mom was pregnant with me at the end of the war and he brought her back with him.” Of course, his father was a bastard, so she wound up dumping his ass and striking out on her own in a foreign country when Levi was still in diapers, but that was a story for another time.

“Wait,” Eren said, brow furrowed. “The end of the war? The _Vietnam war_? How old are you?”

“Forty-four.”

Eren blinked. Once. Twice. His brow smoothed out as his expression went oddly slack. “Oh,” he said. Then he blinked again and registered the line stretching out farther and farther behind Levi. “Oh god, sorry, you gotta go, don’t you?” In flash, he finished ringing up Levi’s order, ripped out his receipt, and held it and Levi’s change out to him in a tight fist. “Have a nice day.”

Although Levi couldn’t quite pinpoint it, something about the encounter disturbed him. It couldn’t be the surprise at his age. Levi was used to that—between his height, smooth skin, round face, and complete inability to grow respectable facial hair even after years of HRT, he was used to people misjudging his age by a decade or even more.

No, it was something about Eren’s slack expression. That hadn’t been a look of surprise, not entirely anyway. There’d been a feeling blaring in Eren’s eyes that was in complete disharmony with his face, a feeling Levi couldn’t identify no matter how much Levi thought back on it. Not panic, but…

Well, whatever it was, it made Levi’s stomach twist in a most unpleasant way.   

“Did something happen?” Erwin asked, approaching them with his mug brimming with coffee from the office’s machine. Levi wrinkled his nose at the smell and drank more of his tea. It wasn’t the lotus tea he’d been craving, which was a little disappointing. Eren could hardly be blamed for that though since Levi had given his usual “surprise me” order. It wasn’t like Eren could read his mind.

But— somehow— whatever Eren gave him usually hit the spot perfectly. So it was strange to crave lotus tea and end up with a cup full of peppermint. Well, it was still better than coffee, at least.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Mike said, since Levi didn’t respond to Erwin.

“Levi’s even more sour-faced than usual,” Hange added with a sage nod.

Levi rolled his eyes and escaped to his desk. “Nothing happened,” he insisted. “It was just kind of a weird morning.” He refused to look at them as he booted up his computer, but he could tell they were exchanging skeptical glances from their brief moment of silence.

“…All right,” Erwin said finally, walking back to his desk. He clapped Levi on his shoulder as he passed. “You should get lunch with me today. I want to hear about this tea guy Hange’s been telling me about. I can’t even remember the last time you liked someone.”

“Fuck off,” Levi muttered into his tea. But Erwin just squeezed his shoulder and let him go.

  _Levi did not have a crush on the tea guy._

And he was not avoiding the tea room either. But the last encounter with Eren had been so awkward that he decided it would be best to go back to his old routine and wait until the weekend to return. He placated his cravings by brewing tea he’d bought from Starling Tea, but it just wasn’t the same as being surprised by whatever Eren decided to order up for him.

By the time Saturday arrived, he wound up heading down to the tea room earlier than ever before. He had a headache and needed the caffeine desperately, plus it’d be easier to have a proper conversation with Eren if he arrived before the morning rush.

Of course, it was just his luck that Eren wasn’t behind the counter. The braided woman, Sasha, stood there in his place, with the hook-nosed woman and an extremely tall, nervous-looking guy Levi hadn’t seen before working behind her.

“Ooooh, Eren’s gonna be so upset he missed you,” Sasha said. The corner of her mouth twitched with restrained laughter as she rang up Levi’s order (black tea, no sugar, no milk, steeped as quickly as possible for maximum caffeine.) “He’s sick as a dog though, so there’s nothing for it.”

“Why?” Levi asked.

“He can hardly come in here and serve food when he’s coughing up crud.”

“No, I mean— why is he gonna be upset?”

Sasha shrugged. “Wants  to apologize for being all awkward, I guess? He was so embarrassed.” Her mouth finally gave up its efforts and she barked with sudden laughter. “Once you’d gone and he got the line down, he had a total meltdown. Moaning and groaning like a little kid— practically sank to the floor back here like he was hoping it’d eat him up,” she said, indicating the space behind the counter.

“It was hilarious,” the woman with the hook nose said. Her flat tone didn’t indicate any amusement, but Sasha nodded in agreement.

“What was he embarrassed for?” Levi asked, still mystified.

Sasha cackled. “He thought you were younger than him! Like, 28 at _most_. Are you really forty-four? And a freakin’ corporate executive?”

“It’s not as impressive as it sounds—the company is pretty small,” Levi explained. Erwin was the one who insisted he have “Executive Copywriter” on his business card; Levi thought it was fairly ridiculous.

Sasha shot a loaded glance at the other woman (Annie, according to her name tag) and then sighed with pleasure. “Ahhh, this is great. I’ve known Eren since we were kids—I’m from the same rez as his mom— and I’ve never seen him get so embarrassed. It was wonderful, thank you.”

“...You’re welcome.”

Annie finished brewing his black tea and handed it Sasha, who passed it over to Levi. “You have a nice day now. Come back soon,” Sasha said. “And don’t worry— we’re both rooting for you,” Behind her, Annie nodded

“What for—” Sasha winked, Annie smirked, and even the new, tall guy glanced over and raised an eyebrow. Levi felt his ears go red-hot. “I’m not—” he said,  but Sasha’s mouth was straining to rein her laughter in again, so Levi decided it be best to just go.

_Levi did not have a crush on the tea guy._

But if the guy wanted to apologize to him-- not that Levi expected or wanted an apology-- it only seemed fair that Levi show up for it. So he went back on Sunday, but Eren was still out sick. Sasha filled his order, eyebrows waggling the whole time as Annie snickered behind her. Levi left in a hurry.

On Monday though, Eren was back. He spotted Levi the moment he walked through the door, the corners of his eyes crinkling happily for a brief moment before he turned back to the customer he was dealing with. When Levi finally got to the front of the line, Eren beamed at him. “You’re back! I mean, I heard from Sasha and Annie that you’d-- but-- you want your usual surprise?”

“Yes, please. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Loads better. Listen, could you wait about--” Eren craned his neck to see the end of the line, then checked the clock. “Ten minutes? It’s all right if you’re in a hurry though.”

Levi wasn’t in a hurry, so he agreed to wait. He watched Eren work the line, sipping slowly at his light rosehip tea after Sasha passed it to him. Once the line was dealt with, Eren scooted over to let Sasha take over the register and came around towards Levi. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Levi returned.

“I, uh, just wanted to apologize for acting weird last week. I kind of-- well, I kind of had this whole image of you built up in my head, so it really threw me for a loop when I realized how wrong it was. And...” He ducked his head and scratched at the back of his neck nervously. “Well, Starlings is supposed to be a place where people can relax, so I’m sorry if I ever made you feel uncomfortable.”

Levi snorted. “Trust me, you’d know if you offended me.” That morning had been weird and it had unsettled him a bit, but that was mostly because of his own hang-ups than any error on Eren’s part. It was nothing worth apologizing over.

Eren relaxed, his hand dropping to his side in a dark blur of skin and ink. “Okay. Good. Just, uh, just feel free to let me know if I’m ever being a jackass.”

“I will.”

“Great. And here--” He reached out one long arm to snag a paper bag sitting on the counter, then handed it over to Levi with a grin. “Doing nothing doesn’t sit well with me, so I thought about some new menu items while I was sick. This one might get added in the fall, but I wanted to do a little test drive. So let me know what you think, okay?”

Levi peered into the bag and said, “Looks good.”

He had to leave soon after for work. Levi had just gotten settled into his desk when Erwin came by, a report clutched in one hand. Whatever Erwin had been about to say was interrupted by the pastry sitting a safe distance from Levi’s keyboard. “What’s that?” he asked flatly.

Levi spared him a glance, fingers still flying over the keys. “Going blind already, old man? It’s a pumpkin cream cheese muffin.”

Erwin, of course, ignored the slight. “Levi,” he said. “You hate pumpkin. You hate cream cheese. You hate muffins.”

He wasn’t wrong. Pumpkin flavored things all tasted like candles to Levi, he found the texture of cream cheese off-putting, and muffins always scattered crumbs everywhere. Levi offered up the only explanation he could. “It was free.”

“Let me guess—the tea guy wanted you to try it.”

Levi shrugged. It was enough of a confirmation for Erwin. He sighed. “Hange and Mike are right; you’ve got it bad.”

“What, because I took a free baked good?”

Erwin raised one of his thick eyebrows. “You don’t usually have any problem turning down things you don’t want, even if they are free,” he said. His tone offered no room for argument. “Also, your ears are bright red.”

Levi sniffed and snatched the paper from Erwin’s hand. It was SEO data on an account he’d written copy for a couple weeks ago. He waved it at Erwin. “Is this all or do you need to interrogate me more?”

“I’ll leave you alone for now if you give me that muffin.”

Levi shoved the pastry at him. “Take it, you like sweet shit.” Erwin would be a far better taste tester than him anyway.

Erwin sauntered away victoriously, taking a big bite out of the muffin top. “Tell him it’s good,” he called over his shoulder.

“I’m gonna need more details than that,” Levi shouted after him.

“You’ve got it _baaaad_ ,” Erwin drawled, laughing.

“I know where you live!”

_Levi did not have a crush on the tea guy._


	3. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi had a crush on the tea guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took far longer than anticipated, but oh well. It's finally here! Just one more chapter to go. I did not proofread this at all for typos, sorry.

_ Levi had a crush on the tea guy. _

There was no use denying it. He was not an idiot-- Levi didn’t make it all the way to his mid-forties without acquiring at least some degree of self-awareness.

He knew why Eren seemed to fill the entire room until Levi couldn’t pay attention to anyone or anything else. He knew why the tiny black birds inked on Eren’s forearms were so captivating. He knew why he hung around the tea room long after finishing his first (second, third) cup to listen to Eren rant about some local legislation he was upset about or carefully detail out all his ambitions for Starlings Tea in the next year, five years, ten years. He knew why he found himself daydreaming about the sleekness of Eren’s hair, the breadth of Eren’s shoulders, the cut of Eren’s jaw during his runs along the orange grove road. He knew why he showed up to the office grouchy on mornings where he had to rush and couldn’t swing by Eren’s shop—

Okay, that last one might have been the tea addiction’s fault. It was very good tea. 

The point was, he  _ knew _ . And he was mature enough to admit it, if only to himself. (He wouldn’t reward Hange, Mike, and Erwin for their teasing by confessing it to them. They could hear about it if and when it actually became any of their business.)

But he also all too aware that it was a ridiculous crush. Levi barely knew Eren outside the context of the tea room. For all he knew, Eren could already be dating someone. He could be  _ married _ . Levi didn’t even have any hard evidence that Eren liked guys anyway.

At the very least, he did know that Eren wasn’t a total homophobe; Sasha and Annie were both apparently his sister’s ex-girlfriends. “Mikasa dates ‘em and Eren hires ‘em,” Sasha had quipped, prompting Eren to shrug and explain, “What can I say, Mikasa’s got good taste.”

But just because his sister was gay (bi?) and Eren was cool with it didn’t mean that Eren himself was. And even if he  _ did _ date guys, that didn’t mean he wasn’t a transphobic asshole. 

It was a ridiculous crush for other reasons too. Levi was a customer, so the kind, smiling person he was crushing on might not even be real. He knew the kind of acting that customer service jobs required, the friendly and helpful persona that workers were required to create and maintain. And he definitely knew how unwelcome romantic attention and advances from customers could be.

Besides, Levi was too old for Eren anyway-- he had to be at least a decade his senior.

So yeah, he had a little crush on the tea guy. But he wasn’t going to do anything about it, regardless of how many eyebrows Sasha waggled at him, pointed glances Annie shot, and teasing prods Erwin, Hange, and Mike gave him. 

Doing nothing should have been an easy course of action to carry out, but Eren made it very difficult. Especially when he did things like--

Well. On Saturday, Levi came into Starlings Tea after his jog-- sweatier than ever, it just kept getting hotter and hotter-- and Eren said, “I have a surprise for you.”

“Don’t you always?” Levi never actually ordered a drink at Starlings Tea, unless it wasn’t Eren behind the counter.

Eren just grinned mysteriously as he rang up Levi’s bill, then stepped away to fix Levi’s drink himself. This wasn’t too unusual-- Eren tended to brew Levi’s tea if the place wasn’t too busy-- but Levi was curious after Eren’s announcement. He tried to see what Eren was doing, but he he kept his back to Levi and blocked his view. Finally he turned around and came towards Levi with-- a glass of iced tea?

“I thought the only thing you served with ice was water,” Levi said, taking the glass from Eren. The cool glass felt wonderful against his overheated skin. Levi peered at the pale brown tea inside. “What is it?”

“Surprise, remember? Just try it.”

Keeping his gaze on Eren, Levi drank a sip. And then another. He let the taste settle on his tongue. It was a little sweet and almost kind of nutty tasting. It tasted like-- it tasted just like the iced tea his mother used to brew every summer. 

“...This is trà atisô,” Levi said, very slowly. He wasn’t quite sure he believed the words even as he spoke them.

“Yeah! Wow, that is not how I’ve been pronouncing it in my head. I was too embarrassed to even try, so I just asked about artichoke tea.”

“Are you… are you going to add it to the menu?” Summer was coming soon-- hell, it already felt like hell according to Levi’s Midwestern sensibilities--  so maybe Eren was planning to expand to more cool drinks.

Eren pressed his lips together thoughtfully and shrugged. “Maybe? We’ve never really done cold stuff here, but-- well, I remembered you mentioning that your mom would make iced tea when it was hot, so I looked around online and from your description I thought it must be artichoke tea, so I asked one of my suppliers, Mr. Sok-- anyway. Did I guess right? Does it taste anything like your mom’s?” 

Levi stared at Eren. Words failed him, so he just kept staring. Finally, Eren began to fidget nervously and Levi pulled his rebellious eyes away and looked down at the tea in his hand. He took a long drink.

He’d had trà atisô several times since her death. He’d had it served at restaurants, had brewed it in his own kitchen, had even drank a glass from a food stall in Lâm Đồng during a visit with relatives. But somehow this was the closest he’d ever gotten to the refreshing --soothing, even-- tea his mother used to pour out when the temperatures soared. This tea, brewed by some Seminole guy who’d probably never even heard of trà atisô until Levi had mentioned it offhand.

Levi glanced up at Eren over the edge of the glass and wondered: was the tea really that close to his mother’s or was Levi just that infatuated? 

He decided it didn’t matter much either way.

“It’s good,” Levi told Eren. “Thank you.”

Eren chuckled. “You should be thanking Mr. Sok, not me. Whenever I get something new from him, he makes me come in and learn the right way to brew it from him. Says he doesn’t want me misrepresenting his tea with shoddy brewing. Starlings’ been serving his stuff for over thirty years. My mom got in contact with him when she first started out because he was the only person selling locally-grown green tea, so I’ve known him since I was a little kid. This one time--”

Levi leaned against the counter as Eren launched into his story, sipping slowly at the trà atisô. It went down cool, but Levi could feel himself warming up regardless, a muted tingle that went from his fingers to his toes. He hoped his flushed skin wasn’t too obvious. His heart fluttered in his chest until Levi was certain it must be flying. 

There really was no use denying it.

_ Levi had a crush on the tea guy. _

Erwin had figured this out weeks ago, of course, so he was not surprised at all when Levi confessed it to him over dinner. They were at one of the many seafood restaurants in the area, the one that Erwin claimed was the most “authentically local.” He was the sort of guy for whom things like that really mattered. Levi was more interested in working his way through their long list of craft beers than sampling the freshest catch. He’d already finished two called Devil’s Triangle and Von Braun Ale and was currently pacing himself with an Indian River Red.

“This is terrible,” Levi proclaimed.

Erwin held out one hand in a silent request to take a sip of Levi’s Indian River Red. Levi curled his fingers around the bottle, drawing it closer to himself protectively. “No, not the beer,” he said. He flapped his free hand in the air in a loose, fanciful gesture. “I mean,  _ this _ .” 

“Your big, honking crush on the tea guy?” Erwin clarified.

“Yes,” Levi said. And then, after a moment: “It’s not big or honking. It’s little. Medium size, at most.” 

Erwin rolled his eyes and cut up what was left of his flounder. “What’s so terrible about a crush?”

“It’s  _ gross _ .”

“What are you, six? How is a crush gross?”

Levi tipped his bottle back for a long drink, swallowed, and then spat out, “I don’t want to be one of those shitty middle-age white guys who come in every week with their stupid “ni hao’s” and the same fucking phở tái and gỏi cuốn order-- and they eat it every week but have no goddamn clue how to pronounce it and every week they ask you how to pronounce it and then laugh when you answer-- and they sit there and leer at the girls and say the most gross, yellow fever shit to them-- never mind the fact that most of them are still in high school.  Fuck those guys.”

Erwin blinked. “Sorry, you lost me,” he admitted. “Is this-- how did we get from crushes to racism?”

Levi supposed his rant may have gotten slightly off-track. He rubbed his forehead and rephrased so Erwin could understand better. “You know those old dudes who think they still have game because they flirt at the poor Hooters waitress, who of course has to smile and act like he’s not creepy because she can’t afford to get stiffed on her tip? I don’t want to be one of those.”

Erwin raised one eyebrow and shook his head once. “That? I don’t  think you need to be concerned about  _ that _ . It’s his business, isn’t it? If you were bothering him, couldn’t he just throw out?”

“He could, but-- you’ve never worked a shitty customer service job, so you don’t understand. Even if you can tell someone to fuck off, it’s not always worth the trouble. And when you’ve been at it for a while, eventually it doesn’t bother you as much because you get numb to all the bullshit and sort of…” Levi relinquished the bottle to press his hands together.  “...Compartmentalize.”

“I still think you should just talk to him and tell him how you feel. You know, with words. Like an adult.”

Levi scoffed. “Would you want some random client coming up to you at the place where you work and asking you out? That’s practically harassment.”

“I wouldn’t call it  _ harassment _ ,” Erwin hedged. “Maybe annoying. Unless they kept showing up and asking even after I said no.”

Levi restrained a huff. Of course Erwin would only think it was annoying. He was a six foot plus, physically fit, financially stable, white cis man with all the privileges thereof. Erwin was rarely the vulnerable person in any situation and while he did make an effort to be mindful of that, he didn’t always  _ get _ it. “You can’t leave because you need to work and you have to be friendly because it’s your job to be friendly. You’re kinda fucked. I’d say that sounds like a recipe for harassment.”

Erwin held up his hands, palms out, and bowed to the insistence behind Levi’s words. “All right, maybe in some circumstances its harassment. But I think you’re taking this out of context. This isn’t some high school girl working her first job we’re talking about. It’s a grown man working at a business he owns. Besides, I know you, Levi. You’re not going to corner him or pressure him.”

Levi picked the beer back up and took a swig. “Yeah, I won’t. ‘Cause I’m not going to say anything.”

Erwin sighed, his lips pinching into a tight line, but he said nothing. Instead, he picked his cutlery back up and continued eating, his gaze carefully focused on his fish dinner. 

Levi could feel the dissent rolling off of Erwin like ocean waves. He set his beer down with a loud clunk. “For fuck’s sake, whatever it is, just spit it out.”

The corner of Erwin’s mouth twitched. He took his time eating and swallowing the piece of fish speared on his fork before finally speaking. “If this is really about not wanting to harass the guy, fine. I can understand that.”

“But?” Levi prompted, since there was clearly a “but” clinging to Erwin’s words.

“ _ But _ I think you are just looking for some justification to avoid making a move.”

“Starting relationships is a little more hazardous for me than it is for you,” Levi said sardonically.

“I’m not saying to suddenly hop into bed with this guy. Just go on some dates, have a nice time, feel him out on the whole trans thing when you’re ready. He’s clearly not a gay basher, so what’s the harm in at least asking him out?”

Levi scowled, but he couldn’t get much heat behind it. Erwin made it all sound so simple and sensible. Levi picked at the label on his bottle, scratching the damp paper away. “Why do you care so fucking much anyway? You and Hange and Mike won’t stop riding my ass about this fucking mess.”

Erwin grinned, a private curl of his lips that he’d reserved solely for Levi’s foul mouth for as long as Levi had known him. “Well, I can’t speak for those two. But I meant what I said: I can’t even remember the last time you liked someone this much. So I don’t like watching you psych yourself out of doing anything about it.”

“You calling me a coward?”

“When it comes to this kind of thing, yeah, I am.”

Levi frowned at him, then tipped back his beer for a long gulp. He didn’t have any retort-- not a convincing one, anyway. It wasn’t that he was afraid of feelings stuff. Not really. He just knew he wasn’t much good at it and it was only natural to avoid paths that you knew would lead to failure. 

For someone who made his living off explaining things in ways anyone could understand, he was terrible at putting his own feelings into words. Copy writing was cut and dry. These are the benefits, these are the features, and this is why you should choose our company for your needs. Levi had mastered copy writing for all kinds of business fields-- attorneys and auto insurance, dentists and dry goods transportation, farmers and financial advisors.

You couldn’t write copy for love though. At least, Levi couldn’t. This is how I feel about you, these are the things I want to do with you, and here’s why I think we could work together. He never had the right words, never knew how to explain it all without sounding needy or false. There was a reason he went into business writing instead of becoming an author or a poet.

“I’ll think about it,” Levi conceded. Wasn’t like he hadn’t already been doing that anyway. Erwin smiled his victory smile, so Levi hastily added, “I’m not saying I’m definitely going to make a move. But I’ll consider it.”

“That’s all I want you to do,” Erwin said.

“And Erwin?”

“Yeah?”

“If you repeat any of this conversation to four eyes or the mop head, you’re dead.”

_ Levi had a crush on the tea guy. _

But he wouldn’t call what he was doing “pining.” Mike accused him off it first, with Hange immediately (and loudly) proclaiming their agreement. Erwin said nothing on the topic, but the way he cocked his eyebrows screamed,  _ “Don’t deny it, you are totally pining.” _

Levi was not. It’d be ridiculous. Eren was only gone for four days—just long enough to visit Mikasa up north and celebrate with her for completing her residency. Just Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and then he would be back. Eren had told him so Thursday morning, beaming with excitement for the mini vacation and pride for his sister.

Just four days. To  _ pine _ over a four-day separation between himself and the guy who rang up his tea orders would be pointless.

“The heart is not a logical organ,” Hange said when Levi explained this very calmly. “You can’t help how you feel, Levi. You can only embrace it!”

“Don’t you have site menus to code or something? Embrace that,” Levi shot back. He slurped some of his tea, which was cooling fast. Without Eren around to surprise him and no inspiration of his own, Levi had ordered a simple peppermint tea from Sasha. She’d been holding down the fort that morning with Annie and the tall, nervous guy that filled in before when Eren was out sick. The tea was fine, expertly brewed as always by Annie, but it didn’t satisfy him nearly as well as Eren’s selections usually did.

“That face,” Mike said solemnly, pointing at Levi. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You’re pining.”  

Levi just buried himself deep in his work and ignored them all. But it was harder to ignore the melancholy he woke up with on Saturday morning. Saturday. That meant three more days until Eren was back at the tea room. Three days until he’d see him, talk to him.

He should’ve gotten Eren’s phone number.

Levi pushed the thought out of his head the moment it formed. He made himself get out of bed, change into his jogging clothes, and go outside. He’d originally intended to take one of his shorter neighborhood routes,  but instead he found himself driving out to the orange grove road. 

The scent of citrus hung heavy in the air. Levi stretched and breathed in long lungfuls of it before finally setting off at a punishing pace. He hit his top speed in no time at all, feet beating against the road and kicking up dust. All he could hear were his bursts of breath. He focused his eyes on the horizon straight ahead and pushed himself hard, harder than he’d done in years.

It’d been too long. Soon enough, a stitch began to ache in his side. He ignored it at first and pressed onward, but eventually it became too painful. He stopped, leaning down to brace himself against his knees until the throb went away. Sweat dripped down into his eyes. He swiped his arm across his face to stop the stinging, but it only made his eyes water more.

When he’d finally blinked the worst of the tears away, he looked up at the grove. The oranges were bright blotches of color amidst the green, brown, and yellow of the trees. Harvest must be coming soon. The sun was still fairly low in the sky, its lights shining through the leaves and branches, and it struck Levi suddenly how beautiful the groves were. There was a down-to-earth magic to them. It was all too easy to imagine a wedding taking place in the shade of the trees.

Levi gritted his teeth and stood up, letting the stabbing in his side pierce through the picture his mind had conjured. No more. This was ridiculous. He took in a breath, then another, and set off again.

By the time he couldn’t go on any longer, his shirt was completely plastered to his back, his eyes were sore from all the sweating getting into them, and his legs were weak with exhaustion. More than anything else though, his throat was parched. 

Usually, Levi wouldn’t consider going to Starlings Tea when he was such a wreck, but with Eren gone it wasn’t like there was anyone there to he wanted to impress. So he drove on over to the tea room to ask Sasha for the strongest black tea they sold.

But it wasn’t Sasha behind the counter. It wasn’t Annie or even the tall guy either. The person who greeted him was an older woman with crow’s feet around her brown eyes and gray streaks shot through her long dark hair. She looked familiar-- maybe a bit like Sasha? Perhaps she was an aunt or something. Levi glanced over at Sasha to see if maybe she’d say something, but she had her mouth pressed together in a clear effort to hold in laughter.

The woman noticed Levi’s glance and smiled coyly. “Is this the one?” she asked Sasha. “He’s all sweaty, it’s gotta be him.”

“What?” Levi asked flatly. Sasha just cackled. Annie peered around Sasha to take in the scene too.

The woman slid off the stool she was perched on and leaned across the counter to offer her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Call me Carla.”

Levi shook her hand, his own name slipping from his lips automatically. When he pulled his hand back though, he asked, “Finally?”

“Sorry, it just feels like I already know you,” Carla explained. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you from my son.”

Son? Levi turned to look at the newspaper article framed on the wall above the counter, comparing the woman before him to the woman in the grainy picture. It was undoubtedly her, although maybe fifteen years older. 

“You’re Eren’s mother,” Levi said. It was a stupid thing to say out loud, but it was vastly better than what nearly came out instead:  _ I thought you were dead?  _ But no, Eren had just said that his mother couldn’t run the tea room anymore. Levi was the one who’d jumped to the conclusion that she’d died. “You didn’t go up to see Mikasa?”

Carla sat back down on the stool, mouth pulling into a pained grimace for just a moment. “Travel doesn’t agree with me anymore, I’m afraid. Or long work shifts. But Bert couldn’t come in this morning and these two--” She titled her head towards Sasha and Annie. “--told me you usually stop by early on weekends. So I figured I’d come see the legendary Levi for myself.”

“...Legendary,” Levi repeated. What did that mean?

“Mmhmm,” Carla drawled. She reached towards the register and began ringing something up. “You look like you could use some rose tea. With plenty of honey. How’s that sound?”

“Good,” Levi said, handing over his cash. And then, because he couldn’t stop turning the word over in his head, he asked, “Why am I legendary?”

Carla laughed. “Eren won’t shut up about you, that’s why. It was adorable at first, but now it’s honestly kind of annoying.”

“It’s been annoying from the start,” Annie muttered as she fixed up Levi’s rose tea.

Levi’s face had already been hot from his run and the morning sun. Now, it burned like it’d been lit on fire. “He-- I’m sorry?”

“Ain’t no sorry, son,” Carla told him. She handed back his change and winked at him. “I’m just glad to see the boy’s still got good taste.”

And there was really only one way to take that. Even still, Levi wanted to be absolutely sure. He clenched his fist around the change and did his best to keep his expression at least somewhat neutral. “He likes me?”

“Like you? He’s been gone on you since day one. Came home that night and told me all about the new hot guy with the cute accent.” She laughed again, flicking her braid hair over one shoulder. “I think he described you as ‘all sweaty and intense.’”

That just about cinched it. Levi’s first instinct was to nod his head, maybe smile a little, and proceed as though everything was normal. But he thought about Erwin calling him a coward and instead asked, “If he likes me, then why hasn’t he said anything?”

“He says he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable, since you’re a customer and all” Sasha chimed in as she brought Levi’s tea over. “And I told him that he was being silly, but he’s too stubborn.”

Well. Levi could certainly understand that.

Carla, Sasha, and Annie were all staring at him expectantly, like any moment he would pledge to confess to Eren to moment he stepped back onto Floridan soil. Or maybe they thought he would demand Eren’s number so he could call him up right then and there. But Levi couldn’t. He still didn’t have the words, still didn’t know how to even approach the situation. It was pathetic to be over the hill and about as romantically clueless as a middle schooler, but it was what it was. 

Levi ignored their stares and drank deeply from the tea, the sweetness settling gently  on his tongue. Levi usually didn’t take so much honey in his tea, but this morning he needed it. He wondered how Carla had known-- or, for that matter, how Eren always knew. Was it an innate talent or the sort of skill you gained from years on the job? Either way, Eren was very good at what he did.

When Levi reached the bottom of his mug, he realized what he needed to do. The only problem was, he couldn’t do do it alone.

So Levi took a deep breath and leaned against the counter to address Carla. “I need your help.”

She beamed and Levi understood where Eren’s smile had gotten its brilliance.

_Levi had a crush on the tea guy._


	4. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi was head over heels for the tea guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter finally! This little side project wound up taking longer than I anticipated, but I'm glad I got to work on it. If you follow my other current fic Giving Up the Ghost, that will hopefully be getting a long overdue update some time this month. I'm also working on projects for the SnK Mini-Bang and the Ereri Big Bang, so there's still plenty more coming from me.
> 
> Thank you for following this fluffy fic! I hope you enjoy the last chapter!

_ Levi was head over heels for the tea guy. _

It scared him a little to realize it. He barely knew Eren, to be completely honest. He’d never even laid eyes on Eren outside of Starlings Tea. To be so completely gone on someone you barely knew was a bit like attempting to navigate a foreign sea at night with only the stars to follow. Or maybe more like spinning and diving through the air, not knowing what was up, what was down, or even where you were going.  

Okay, it scared him a lot. But it was maybe a bit exhilarating too. 

Besides, Levi was not a coward. It became a mantra in his mind, the words he turned to whenever a fear or doubt tried to creep its way in.  _ You’re not a fucking coward. Don’t be a fucking coward. _

For what it was worth, everyone else seemed to think he had nothing to worry about. 

“You don’t hear how he talks about you,” Sasha pointed out, Annie nodding behind her. 

“You don’t hear how he talks about you  _ at home _ ,” Carla added. “If it wasn’t so cute, it’d be pretty annoying.”

Erwin and Hange each gave him their assurances as well. Erwin just told him, “It’ll be fine,” for perhaps the one hundredth time. Hange was more effusive, proclaiming, “Damn, I’d take you on, like, a dozen dates if you made me one of these.”

In the end though, it was Mike who was the most reassuring. He came down to the shop on Sunday afternoon to order a black tea so sugary-sweet it didn't deserve to be called tea and shoot a few photos. Levi was too busy to pay him much attention, so he didn’t notice that Mike was done until Mike was looming over his table.

“Levi,” he said. “Have you seen this?”

Mike led him over to the massive chalkboard-wall menu scrawled on the wall. Levi honestly hadn’t spent much time looking at the menu until this weekend. Eren had always picked his drinks out for him, so he hadn’t really needed to. The last couple of days had made Levi deeply acquainted with it though.

It wasn’t the menu Mike wanted him to see though. Instead, he directed Levi’s attention to the little bulletin board hanging besides the menu, pointing out a specific piece of paper. It was a calendar for the next two months, outlining holiday hours and evening events the tea room hosted. Mostly it was a mix of artsy performances and other things, but there were a few recurring events.  

Open mic nights the last Monday of every month-- see Sasha for details. Treasure Coast Indian Youth Council session first Wednesday monthly-- see Eren. And, right beneath Mike’s finger, on each third Thursday: Indian River County Transgender Action Committee meeting-- see Annie for details.

“Annie?” Levi called. She came over and Levi jabbed at the same spot Mike had pointed to. “Details?”

“My friend Ymir runs that,” Annie said, still scrubbing at a tea stain on the bottom of the mug she was washing. “Third Thursday. Starts around 6:00, usually ends around 8:00. Why, you interested? You don’t have to be transgender to go.”

Levi ignored the second part of her answer.  “I thought Starlings closed at 6:30 on weekdays.”

Annie shrugged. “Eren keeps the place open late for it. He doesn’t mind. Practically lives here anyway. Besides, Ymir is Eren’s friend too.”

Mike looked at Levi meaningfully, his eyebrows raised high-- though it was hard to tell with his long bangs. Levi got the message loud and clear:  _ Probably not a transphobic asshole then _ . Well, Mike wouldn’t phrase it like that, but that was the gist of it.

So yeah, Mike was the most reassuring. All in all, Levi knew that he didn’t really have anything to be so nervous about. But he couldn’t help himself. He drank about three times more tea than usual and wasted away hours correcting tiny typos and messing around with turns of phrases. 

It wasn’t so bad during the weekend, but by Monday he could barely concentrate on his work. He kept running through scenarios, trying to push out the memories of past relationships gone wrong that fought to occupy his mind. He wound up going to bed hours earlier than usual, then lying awake and staring at the ceiling anyway.

Finally, it was Tuesday.

Levi’s first impulse was to go to Starlings Tea in the morning. That was his routine. But it was always so busy in the morning and Levi wanted at least some privacy. So he held off, suffering through yet another agonizing day of work. When the clock hit 6:00, he grabbed the bag containing his personal laptop and went straight from work to the tea room.

Closing time was fast approaching when Levi finally walked in. Eren was already prepping to shut the shop down for the night, a tired slump to his shoulders. When he spotted Levi, he perked up. “Levi! I thought maybe I wouldn’t see you today! You usually don’t come weekday evenings.”

“Yeah, I...” Levi trailed off as Sasha and Annie appeared, eyes wide. Sasha was grinning broadly, no restraint in sight. Annie was more somber, but there was a definite curve to her lips. Levi picked up his train of thought again. “I couldn’t make it this morning, but I wanted to come see you since you’re back.”  

Eren beamed, a bright flash of white teeth against brown skin. He began to ring Levi up, jumping immediately into tales about his trip. Levi listened, watching as Eren’s fingers flew over the register keys. The black inked birds soared up and down his arms with every twitch. Levi made himself stop staring and looked into Eren’s face instead. He couldn’t believe it’d really only be four days.

No one came in after Levi. Eren flipped the shop sign from OPEN to CLOSED and Levi unloaded his heavy laptop bag onto a table. Levi sipped at his tea while Eren talked about Mikasa and finished closing the shop. Sasha and Annie pretended to be doing their day’s end tasks, but it was obvious that they were hovering more than anything else. When Eren finally dismissed them, Sasha opened her mouth to protest. Fortunately, Annie grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

“I think they actually missed me,” Eren told Levi.

“Mm,” Levi agreed, drinking the last of his tea. He’d been working at it slowly, so it’d gone cold long ago.

Eren shot him a strange glance, then folded himself into the chair across from Levi. He drummed his fingers on the tabletop in an anxious beat. “So, uh, I heard you met my mom. Sorry if she said anything weird to you. She can get really… involved sometimes.”

“No,” Levi rushed to reassured him. “Carla was nice. She...” Levi trailed off, suddenly hyper-aware of his laptop beside him and what he’d come to Starlings Tea to do. “Actually, she was really helpful.”

This made Eren look even more nervous than before. “What do you mean helpful?”

Levi breathed in deep. “Can I show you something?” Eren nodded, so Levi pulled his laptop from the bag and booted it up, rambling all the while. “I know you said before that hiring someone else to do it felt impersonal, so it’s fine if you don’t like it. But your mother helped a lot, and so did Sasha and Annie, and I think I must’ve tried at least half of the entire menu by now, so I just--” 

Levi stopped to make himself breathe again, then turned the laptop around so Eren could see its screen. “Anyway, tell me what you think.”

Eren blinked at him, then pulled the laptop towards himself. He tilted the screen back a little and leaned forward to read.

Usually, it didn’t bother Levi for other people to read his work. He hadn’t written anything that could be called personal since high school-- his last sad attempts at creative writing that English classes wrung out of him. Since then, everything he’d written had either been an assignment or work and Levi never put much of himself in either.

In theory, what Eren was reading was just another website preview. In practice, Levi was too nervous to watch Eren read it. He looked away, staring at the chalkboard wall menu opposite him with a laser-focus. 

It was all there, on the site. Menu, location, business hours, history. Levi had more or less known it all, except for the tea room’s background. Carla had been happy to tell him the story of how it started, how she and several other ambitious people from the Seminole Tribe of Florida formed a loose coalition of small businesses throughout the region. They shared resources when possible and supported each other, welcoming in new American Indian businesses that came and mourning when members were forced to close down.

Levi had never really wondered why the tea room was called Starlings, but he thought he understood now. What was it Eren had said about starlings? That they weren’t very big, but in a group they could fill a sky. He suspected Eren heard the exact same thing from his mother.

There were other things on there too, things that had nothing with Starlings Tea-- at least not directly. They weren’t spelled out the headings or body copy or CTAs, but Levi had borne them in mind as he wrote all weekend. He wasn’t sure if he wanted Eren to see them or not, but those were the things that made him stare at the wall, battling the urge to fidget as he listened to Eren slowly click around on the site preview.

Finally, he heard Eren sit back in his chair. “This is...” Eren started before trailing off. “Damn.”

“It’s not live,” Levi said. “If you do want it to go live, you can change whatever you want. I didn’t set up any e-commerce because Sasha said you guys would have to get shipping and stuff properly figured out first. You don’t have to use it or if you want to hold off and maybe use just some of it later, that’s fine, I don’t mind, I just--”

Eren cut off his rambling with a touch to his arm, making Levi turn to look at Eren. “I like it,” he said. “You’ll have to explain all the back-end and hosting stuff and-- I don’t even know what else, I’m not that internet savvy-- you’ll have to explain it to me, but I like it. Haven’t even properly looked at it all yet, but I’m sure-- yeah.”

Eren took his hand away to rub at the back of neck, looking at the laptop screen again. It was hard to tell, but Levi was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the blush coloring Eren’s cheeks darker. He was relieved he wasn’t the only person fumbling around like a fool.

After an awkward moment of silence, Eren suddenly laughed. “Sorry, I just don’t really know how to react. This is one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done for me. I just-- I don’t know what to say. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t seem like enough.”

“You don’t need to-- I did it because I wanted to. I just wanted to show you--” Levi couldn’t quite get the words out, not with Eren watching him so intently. He swiveled his head to face the wall again and started over. “I did it because I like Starlings Tea. A lot. And I like you.”

“...A lot?” Eren asked. 

It was an ambiguous question at best, but Levi knew exactly what Eren meant. Levi could feel Eren’s eyes on him. He folded his hands together to make his fingers stop twitching. He wished he still had a warm mug of tea to hold on to, but it was sitting on the table next to him, cool and empty.

“Yeah,” he replied. He made himself turn around to face Eren, made himself meet Eren’s eyes. “I-- yeah.”

Eren stared at him, gaze flickering from Levi’s face, down to his folded hands, and back again. Slowly, like the sun cresting the horizon, his lips spread into a smile. “I’m pretty fond of you myself.”

It was just one short sentence, but it put the bulk of Levi’s worries to rest. Immediately, the tension drained out from Levi’s body. He relaxed into the table, leaning closer to where Eren sat just a few feet away. He wanted to laugh with relief, but instead he let loose the first thought he had. “Your mom wants us to hook up.”

Eren groaned. “Do not bring up my mom when I’m trying to flirt with you.”

“Oh, was that flirting?” Levi found himself smiling as well, emboldened. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“You-- don’t get me started on you!” Eren laughed. “I had no idea if you liked me at all until your friends came here for recon or something this morning.”

“What-- who?”

“Two big white guys and this person with weird glasses. They all showed up this morning right when we opened. Mentioned you, said you’d recommended the place, but it was pretty obvious none of them actually drank tea. They were all way more interested in me than the menu.”

Un-fucking-believable. Levi kind of wanted to be mad, but he couldn’t quite manage it because all of them had helped him a lot with the site and the whole situation in general. Besides, fuck it-- Eren liked him back and that was all Levi cared about at this point. “Sorry if they were a bother,” he said, though it probably didn’t sound sincere since he couldn’t get the shit-eating grin off his face.

“Ain’t no sorry,” Eren said, rising out of his seat. “I’ve got a few more things to do and then I’m taking you out to dinner. You want some more tea?”

_Taking you out._ He wasn't used to smiling this much-- he wondered if he'd be able to stop. Levi shook his head to decline the tea and stood up as well. “There’s something else you can do for me though.”

Eren had already picked up Levi’s empty mug, but he paused to regard him. “What?”

Slowly and with great care, Levi stepped into Eren’s space until he was close enough to see each hair of stubble on his jaw and smell the scent of tea leaves that he doubted ever truly left Eren’s skin. He tugged gently at the front of Eren’s apron, looking up into Eren’s eyes to make sure his intent was clear. 

Eren chuckled and bent over obligingly.

_ Levi kissed the tea guy. _


End file.
